Parking payment processing can be expensive, time consuming and a reconciliation headache, but payments are at the core of every parking operation. Choosing the right payments processor can help make your daily tasks easier, and more importantly, can help you save money.

When choosing a payment processor for your parking operation there are many factors to take into consideration to ensure a streamlined back-end system and low costs. When evaluating your parking operation expenses or shopping for a new payments processor, the following can help keep your costs down to ultimately increase revenue:

Work with a provider who knows small payments

Parking payments, in general, are small ticket transactions. Many cities, however, face standard interchange rates which can average 8% – 10% in card processing fees alone on these typical $3.00 transactions. A processor that focuses on parking environments understands the challenges associated with maintaining margins on small transactions and can negotiate special rates for purchases under $10. 

Passport, a small payments expert, has built its business around these types of transactions and has negotiated special credit and debit card rates to help cities keep costs down. We can often shave 2% – 4% off a city’s card processing fees.

Don’t get stuck paying double

Many cities want to give parkers the option to extend parking sessions and parkers have come to expect it. If you are not working with a processor that understands the industry this can often come at the expense of a merchant processing transaction fee not once, but twice (or more) when each extension is processed. This can mean accruing an initial fee for a $3 parking session and additional fees for each smaller extension transaction.

Passport is committed to a clean rate structure and assessing the merchant processing transaction fee one time per each settled transaction, even an extended parking session. This can save cities up to 20% in merchant processing transaction fees.

Streamline reconciliation with one back-end system

Parking environments present a special challenge due to the fact that payments are typically made in advance and vary by hour. Managing the associated complexities and reconciling between business management systems and financial management systems is difficult. Cities often enter into contracts with banks or merchant processors for city-wide card processing services, which includes parking. These one-size fits all processors cost financial managers hours each week in reconciling processing data with multiple back office systems. 

Integrated payment solutions, like Passport Payments, automate reconciliation processes by connecting parking activity with merchant processing data in a single back office dashboard. This decreases the time spent reconciling and can help lower operational costs, while simplifying the management and collection of funds.

Passport’s product suite comes integrated with Passport Payments, eliminating the need for third-party gateways and processors. As your payments partner, we can help you lower processing costs through our negotiated credit and debit card rates in the parking segment, give you faster access to your funds with daily settlement and provide the highest level of security through the use of an advanced tokenization system that removes sensitive card details from our processing environment. Passport is a registered, full-service merchant services provider, and is Level 1 PCI PA-DSS certified.

Passport enables clients to facilitate digital payments and control their curbsides through a mobility software platform. Contact us to learn more about payment processing and our suite of solutions.